


For What It's Worth

by neuxue



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Zutara, Zutara Month, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 12:10:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/723153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neuxue/pseuds/neuxue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakoda makes Zuko wonder about his own father. Katara finds out how Zuko got his scar. Written for Day 7 of Zutara Month 2012: Pride</p>
            </blockquote>





	For What It's Worth

Zuko stands and turns at the sound of footsteps on the dock. He smiles when he sees Katara walking towards him. When she reaches him they both look out at the water in silence for several moments before she finally speaks.  
  
“I just…wanted to say thank you,” she says. “For everything.”  
  
“You don’t have to thank me,” Zuko says.  
  
“But I want to. Not just for taking me to Yon Rha. You brought my dad back, too. I never thanked you for that.”  
  
He remembers returning from the Boiling Rock with Sokka and Hakoda, remembers the happiness on Katara’s face as she hugged her father. He thinks of Hakoda and Sokka and Katara, hugging and smiling. He thinks of the portrait he burned, of Ozai’s hand on his shoulder. He thinks of his mother, how she used to hug him like that. He smiles.  
  
“Your father must be proud of you,” he says, and he is rewarded with a smile.  
  
“Thanks. Yours would be proud of you, too.”  
  
He stares at her, shocked. Her eyes widen and she holds out a hand. “No, I didn’t mean – ” but he hardly hears.  
  
“ _How could you say that?_ ” he asks, turning away in anger and astonishment. He reaches up, almost without thinking, to touch his scar. “After the Agni Kai,” he says, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice, “he told me I had disgraced him again. Apparently screaming is a sign of weakness.”  
  
He looks back at her, and sees her face shift from confusion to horrified realisation. “You mean he – ” she stops, and instead pulls him into her arms. “Oh Zuko,” she whispers softly into his hair. Then she pulls away slightly and he freezes in surprise as he feels her lips brush the ghost of a kiss onto his scarred cheek.  
  
“I didn’t mean Ozai,” she says. “I was talking about Iroh.”  
  
He looks up at her then, at her wide, sincere eyes, and wonders if she knows the full meaning of what she has just said.  
  
“Thank you Katara,” he says quietly, not trusting his voice. Then he looks away, thinking of the last time he saw his Uncle. “But he probably hates me now.”  
  
“No, Zuko. Everyone makes mistakes. We all do the wrong thing sometimes. But you realised it, and you worked to set things right. I know I’ve been a bit hard on you, but not many people would have done the things you’ve done over the last few days. Especially not for people who hated them. Next time we see your uncle, I’ll tell him what you did.”  
  
He knows what an admission like that must cost her. He would have gladly settled for her forgiveness. But while her words are comforting, they do little to assuage the guilt he feels over what he said to his uncle. How could Iroh not hate him now? Ozai hated him for far less.  
  
“I don’t know,” he says. “You said it yourself – some things can’t be forgiven.”  
  
She lays a hand on his shoulder. “For a long time, you were our greatest enemy, Zuko. I hated you then, and even so I can forgive you now. Iroh loves you. Just ask Toph – he talks about you as if you were his son. You don’t have to earn his forgiveness.”  
  
“You really think so?” he asks. Maybe she’s right. He thinks again of the joy and relief and love of the embrace between Hakoda and his children. Maybe that’s how fathers are, how fathers are meant to be – not like Ozai. How would he know? But he thinks of Ozai, and he thinks of Hakoda, and he wonders if perhaps what Katara says is true. Iroh always did speak more of love than of honour, and he gave lessons of stern but kind words. Never lessons of fire. _Does that make Iroh my father?_ And if so, did that mean Iroh would forgive him?  
  
“Yes. And Zuko…for what it’s worth, _I’m_ proud of you.” She hugs him again, then walks away before he can reply.


End file.
